Fixed Panel, Hinged Disc Storage Package

ABSTRACT

A package for discs that includes a frame and a planar insert. The frame includes a front face and a rear face, connected by a hinge allowing access to the disc housed between the faces. The planar insert is attached to both faces of the frame. The hinge is flexible, allowing the faces to pivot and the frame to open to accommodate relative movement of the planar insert and the frame.

BACKGROUND

This invention is in the general field of storage packages for discs, such as CD or DVD discs.

Storage packages that house discs should be simple, inexpensive to produce, and easily assembled with printed matter such as graphics and printed information about the disc contained within the box. It is desirable to insert a single printed sheet or blank that provides information on multiple faces of the package, thus avoiding multiple insertion operations. When a single printed sheet is used, it is desirable to avoid a design in which the printed material interferes with opening/closing the package, or where opening and closing the package can damage the printed material.

Wetsch U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,607 discloses a storage package that accommodates a planar blank that fits within a frame. The blank includes scores allowing it to be folded to present various printed surfaces for the package. The panel slides within its enclosure in the frame, to allow movement as the frame is opened and closed.

Roth et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,242 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,559 disclose a disc package having a plastic frame that is slotted at opposite ends to allow a paperboard blank to extend through the frame from the inside to the outside.

SUMMARY

Generally stated, the invention features a package for discs that includes a frame and a planar insert. The frame includes a front face and a rear face, connected by a hinge allowing access to the disc housed between the faces. The planar insert is attached to both faces of the frame. The hinge is flexible, allowing the faces to pivot and the frame to open without substantially altering the distance between the faces at the location of the hinge, so that the planar insert is not stretched or distorted by the operation of the hinge.

Preferably the frame and hinge are a single injection molded plastic piece such as polypropylene or polyethylene. The planar insert is attached to at least one and preferably both frame faces with an adhesive such as a hot melt adhesive. The hinge is collapsible, so that a section folds out of the original hinge plane when it opens. For example, the hinge includes two generally planar segments joined by a central fold line, each of which is attached to one of the frame faces by a fold line, and the hinge operates by folding along the central fold line so that the two planar segments move from a first (closed) position in which they are generally in the same plane to a second (open) position in which the segments are at an angle with respect to one another.

The packaging enables firm attachment of the planar insert to both faces of the frame, providing an aesthetically pleasing package without the need to permit the insert to slide relative to the frame as the frame is opened. Assembly of the packaging is relatively straightforward and readily mechanized, without the need to slip the insert into the frame.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a plastic frame, omitting the paperboard insert of the disc for clarity.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the same frame with the paperboard blank inserted.

FIG. 3A is an edge on view of the disc package of FIG. 1 in a fully opened position, and FIG. 3B is an enlargement of the hinge in FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A is a sectional view of the disc package of FIG. 2 in a closed position, showing the plastic frame and the paperboard insert, and FIG. 4B is an enlargement of the hinge portion of FIG. 4A.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In FIGS. 1 and 2, open disc package 10 includes a front plastic frame 12 and a rear plastic frame 14 for containing a disc (not shown) on a central hub 16. A hinge 19 connects front frame 12 to rear frame 14. The package includes a planar insert 20 (FIG. 2), e.g., a paperboard printed with material relevant to the disc. Insert 20 is a single piece of paperboard, positioned around the frames, with scores 21 to permit it to bend at the spine 23. FIGS. 1 and 2 show the package in the open position in which the disc is accessible and the hinge is fully stretched. The hinge 19 includes several (e.g. five) connectors 18, each of which has two planar segments 22 and 24. Segment 22 is connected to frame 12 along fold line 26 and segment 24 is connected to frame 14 along fold line 28. Central fold line 30 connects segments 22 and 24. Note that in the open position, the hinge 19 tends to be more extended at fold lines 26, 28 and 30, whereas in the closed position, the folds are more acutely angled. Without the flexibility provided by the folds in hinge 19, opening/closing the package would result in relative movement between the panel and the paperboard, causing the panel to move (if not attached to the panel) or to buckle or rip or to separate from the panel (if adhered to the panel).

FIG. 3A is a view of frames 12 and 14 and hinge 19 edge on, showing the edges 32 and 34 of frame. FIG. 3B is a close up of hinge 19 from FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A shows the package edge on in the closed position, including the paperboard insert 20. Note that hinge 19 (best shown in the enlargement that is FIG. 4B) is more compressed in the closed position than in the open position.

An embodiments of the invention has been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the accordion type hinge may have multiple central fold lines. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A disc package comprising a frame and a planar insert the frame, the frame comprising a front face and a rear face connected by a hinge; the planar insert being attached to the front frame face and to the rear frame face; the hinge being connected to an edge of the front face and to an edge of the rear face, so that the faces pivot about their edges with respect to the hinge as the package moves from a closed position in which the faces abut each other to an open position in which the faces are positioned so that they do not abut one another, and, the hinge being flexible so that, when moving between the first and second positions, the distance between the face edges does not change enough to distort or damage the planar insert.
 2. The package of claim 1 in which the frame and hinge are a single injection molded plastic piece,
 3. The package of claim 2 in which the frame and hinge comprise polypropylene or polyethylene.
 4. The package of claim 1 in which the planar insert is attached to at least one frame faces with an adhesive.
 5. The package of claim 4 in which the planar insert is attached to both frame faces with an adhesive.
 6. The package of claim 4 in which the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive.
 7. The package of claim 1 in which the hinge comprises at least one hinge piece, said piece comprising two generally planar segments separated by at least one central fold line; each of the generally planar segments being attached to one of the frame faces by a frame-face fold line; whereby the hinge moves between the open and closed positions by flexing along the central fold line and along the frame-face fold lines, and the angle between the two planar segments changes.
 8. The package of claim 7 in which the hinge piece comprises multiple central fold lines.
 9. The package of claim 7 or claim 8 in which the hinge comprises multiple hinge pieces. 